GENEALOGY: A Cheat Sheet for the Unsuspecting Librarian

Once your patrons have exhausted your library's resources, you can point them to your state archives. In fact, genealogists comprise the majority of researchers in most state archives. When the author spoke to a colleague and former archivist at the Georgia Archives, she told her, Genealogists made up a large percentage of their researchers, even visiting by the busload as a part of organized genealogy research tours. You don't have to be a large regional library to become a landmark. Even if yours is modest, you can become a destination by putting resources into growing a collection that will make your library unique. The bottom line is because of what's already accessible from your library terminals, you can get family historians started with virtually no additional outlay of budgetary resources. Even the smallest of libraries can make a big impact with local genealogists -- the future of reference -- by providing assistance and access to online resources people already own.